Scientists Trained Ants to Detect Cancers

Scientists Trained Ants to Detect Cancers
A black ant. (Shutterstock)
Naveen Athrappully
4/22/2023
Updated:
4/22/2023

Researchers have successfully trained ants to detect cancer cells in as little as half an hour, thereby providing an inexpensive, noninvasive way to identify the disease.

A Feb. 21 study published in the iScience journal details how Formica fusca, a species of black-colored ants, can be used to detect cancer. “Cancer cells are characterized by an altered metabolism, producing unique patterns of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that can be used as cancer biomarkers … We show that individual ants need only a few training trials to learn, memorize, and reliably detect the odor of human cancer cells,” the study states.

“These performances rely on specific VOC patterns, as shown by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Our findings suggest that using ants as living tools to detect human cancer biomarkers is feasible, fast, and less laborious than using other animals.”

The study subjected ants to three training trials in a circular arena. Individual ants were trained to associate the odor of a cell sample with a food reward.

The researchers placed the sugar solution close to the cancer cells in the circular arena. The ants soon associated the odor of a human cancer cell sample with the sugar solution reward.

“Ants, therefore, represent a fast, efficient, inexpensive, and highly discriminant detection tool for detection of cancer cell volatiles.”

The researchers also pointed to multiple other uses for the ants. “Our approach could potentially be adapted to a range of other complex odor detection tasks, including the detection of narcotics, explosives, spoiled food, or other diseases (malaria, infections, diabetes, for instance).”

Ants Versus Dogs

At present, dogs are used as bio-detectors of cancer. Dogs are capable of detecting VOC through olfactory associative learning. However, training dogs is a time-consuming and costly affair. In 2012, scientists discovered that ants have four to five times more odor receptors than most insects.

“Ants are available in great numbers and collectively choose the right odor with a very high probability. Ants are thus equivalent to dogs—the most studied bio-detectors—in terms of detection abilities,” the study states.

“In some respects, ants surpass dogs because they need an extremely shorter training time (30 min compared to 6–12 months for a dog) and a reduced cost of training and maintenance (honey and frozen insects twice a week).”

Dogs have also been trained to detect cancer from urine, saliva, plasma, and breath. The team intends to test whether ants can detect cancer via body-emitted odors.

New Cancer Treatments

While the research on using ants to identify cancer opens up the path for easier detection of the disease, multiple other studies in recent times are working on strengthening the ability to counter cancer.

A research team from the University of Hong Kong (HKU) has deconstructed how specific proteins read the genetic information in human DNA. Errors made during this process can lead to diseases like cancer. The research paves the way for the development of new anti-cancer drugs.

In Boston, a Brigham and Women’s Hospital lab has introduced a novel way to deal with cancer. Known as dual-action therapy, the method uses cancer cells as a weapon against other cancer cells.

“Our team has pursued a simple idea: to take cancer cells and transform them into cancer killers and vaccines,” said Khalid Shah, MS, Ph.D., at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, in a press release.

“Using gene engineering, we are re-purposing cancer cells to develop a therapeutic that kills tumor cells and stimulates the immune system to destroy primary tumors and prevent cancer.”

Naveen Athrappully is a news reporter covering business and world events at The Epoch Times.
Related Topics